1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to vehicle theft prevention and recovery systems and, more particularly, to such a system wherein a pager at the vehicle activates functions including at least a warning to a thief in the vehicle and disabling the vehicle engine.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
Vehicle theft has long been widespread, particularly with respect to automotive vehicles, with resultant high costs to society, including high insurance rates to cover losses and services of law enforcement organizations.
The present invention aids in prevention of vehicle theft and facilitates the location identification of stolen vehicles. The disabling system, according to the invention, is not activated until after the vehicle is stolen. The thief is not aware of the disabling device until the thief is automatically warned of impending vehicle disablement.
Remotely operable devices or systems for disabling vehicles are known in the prior art, although a variety of anti-theft devices and equipment have been developed, vehicle thieves have conceived various ways to disable or circumvent any systems and devices.
Relatively expensive and complex systems, such as LOJAC.TM. provide after-the-fact retrieval systems, which well-known systems do not actually prevent theft of vehicles, but may enable location of a vehicle after its theft. It is desirable that an anti-theft system operate to prevent vehicle theft or high-jacking in progress or interrupt the theft in the early stages before the vehicle and criminal evidence can move undesirably far away.
It is also desirable to have a system which effectively transmits the location of the vehicle. In this way, a central source can monitor the location of the vehicle and initiate the anti-theft system. It is further desirable to provide some means whereby the anti-theft system can be activated from a remote source, such as law enforcement vehicle, by means of signal from the remote source, such as radar.
Certain prior art systems are activated by a call to a central service operate to disable a vehicle, although such systems present legal liability problems related to disablement of a vehicle under hazardous circumstance, with no warning to the thief in the vehicle. Further, such systems tend to be relatively expensive and complex. Such arrangements include those of the U.S. Pat. No. 4,067,411 to Conley and U.S. Pat. No. 5,276,728 to Pagiliaroli.
Certain prior art systems involve specialized components and functions. Smith U.S. Pat. No. 5,349,329 involves a transmitter carried by a driver, and a receiver and disabling switch in the vehicle. When the receiver does not detect the signal from the transmitter, the disabling switch disables the vehicle. Such a system is of relatively limited use and is subject to problems, as upon any failure of the system. The system of Beezley, Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 5,319,351 is activated by the seating of a person in the vehicle driver's seat. If not disarmed by the driver-owner by operating a disarming switch, the system reacts to police radars and gives an alarm. Such a system is of rather limited use, and is subject to operator error.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,962,522 to Marian relates to an irrigation system activated by a paging station which is telephoned to send a signal to a pager at an irrigation site for remote activation of sprinklers.
The present invention addresses and relieves problems and shortcomings of prior devices and systems.